












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































u 










. * a , i • 


* <0 


* o * O J * 


A ^p -> 

o *.-,,•* .c P V'*., 

V .o* .»••,. <: 



• <f>- C* *« 3 JUfca- ^ A' - rl\\ »f> An, „ 'vr- ,-, 


t ^ 9 s 


« A>** o 

* 'V ^ 


A 

* '£> v 'Cc> • 

4 * ^O % 


I'p^r ^ v v • « ^9 ■* _- 0 . K 

. • * * -A <b *0 • A " A 

* *&■ « t ' a ■<$> (V o M o - 

A **/*?»*% ^ C° * 

< N I igV//V>S _ ^ ». fVsXWlN^ 


o aV*\ o 
* A/ ^ » 


.. ' * • s % A <b '° • * 

^o A • C ' 9 * ^ .0 o 

° <T *V/rf8fcA. Av , C s 





D -► w „ w , 

V* * ° <?- 

*%4\Y\SS> > v> * 

ri* > • <L* * C -^C A/ ^ 

'..o’ A ®*. *•« ’ * A° 

■ N « * O- cv <0 6 



♦ • 





° N* 

<-J 'I.V' * •> V »••»- '«\, 

* * '*“**' '. <*. A ,VWV“ *<?• 

«$v A « A\M/0i o 

V*^ * S\ WW / * ^ 

* A^V - o A 

* 



<£■ * 

'..** A 

^ V" . t 



v A 0 <?> ^<-0° °<1> * 

♦ V" V <» * * °* CV A” » S ** % ^ A ^ « * O, 

'• ^ ** -tfr - ' 

>•** <C) '3 *, ,\ s ‘ A <,'••»♦ ,0^ \S VT.T* A 

•» ^cL. C • , •’■ o A . t# 





b ° A - 
w ^o v : 







v» V>>* 


O > 




s° ^ V 


-TV 

_ ♦ /^ -d. ' MWWs 1 * tv y _ *■ c z5 / y/l\)jtf ± ~ 7 VV J, 

;•. y, .y .‘^sfe»*. v ^ ->vVa % v A .‘yQ^h*. ♦ 



™r % V F ^ °‘> 

5 !^ a 

A^ - , t / * 

A *: 

b v^ : 

0 

* -tKUWX^ ^ 6 l 

V '®"’ 0 <r * 

'♦ > V v p f * °* o„ *• 

** o. * „ . • -^. Ay 

* 0v ♦ A\ /h, -^rv A ♦ 

" ^>X-V „ JS&MJ/A o Ao V 0 

v^ 



-. <* A v 'JtMps ** A j 

V. '••** a° <v v, ' < ”*'* A 

A t ® /• VJ < 

A ^^rdT^" -rsr c 

</» ^^ K a cV ^ .^v. \\j// y^^’ "* & 


♦ ♦ 



» A 


r 0 V 0 °"°>» 
c * c^v^.. o 


<y , v / * ■<£, 

^^Jr 79 ^ - "t 













4 O 



\p 

o * «^ r> ^ ^ ** 

" n $\ * O * o 

,# °' o. .0 *> 



• A V 

° ^ S S • 




. &*+ ' 
, 'V -<• 


■ ** «v 'V 
* ^ ** 



%. * •”< ’ * ’ A 0 ’>, * ■> 

% - . , V .*••. c> .<r .i^L-. *> 

v % <& V ^ / 

vv <ssM", 'o'V • 

,* Iww; «•=> 

’" v ^ V'* ,T *' A A % A?* A 

A *'* 0 %*: +- c° <?, A.•v-?. ^ ,o* .» 

o > . ^ r\” ° 0\. ~ ^ «* 




** 
* 



s * A 

/»v ° * O AV • 1 ' • * O , 

0 • ,-C^XY o .A t f *r Cr 0 

*. ^o ‘ 

?>° "V -©Isisy* 

o, .CT * * 


% *■ r\ 

C> ♦.,,* ,0 



• % A 

♦ •■• 0 *~ ..., %'•’• <? ~<u 

.\' S * r '* ^ V n * * o, o 

*. ^ a /^fr- ** ^ .:*«-»*•- * 

f! r^PriS^' ^ :°. V j»% 

° A V ^> °®W* A ^ 

*mry > ^ *;^VV A' % 

•* s a v < A "o.*'* ,G o ".7; * • A <\ 'o.» 

A c- 9i> 0 ^ 0« O(t ^ A> t , a ^S> , 

A * j*’/f77p2* rsr C/ o ^ ^ u 0 



^0- ,>••-, *> 

° M!M V > 

.• ^ v % l MwJ & 



o V 

* 

V*^*\^ 



>°- - 

c %. *-•'■>•' f° 

• •«. cv .0' ,»“ 

^ A* *■ 

C,^ * 

: ^ v 

. : 

& 

S. s * A <v 

A . 1 • • 4 , ^ 

* .*v *£m&> - ^ ^ 

x* 

^ * o M o 0 

♦ • . ^ N , V 



, "N' v , t < * 

- - vT *W%,’ *%■ O' • 

'^o ^ ^ 0^ .* 

J- 0 ' 7 ''#-. ^ °-o - 

^ *.;.• A V'».. 





' > V' •» *:• °» o 


\ 




' ^ ''Cjx * 

“* A° .. ^ ^ 



: ^ 

_ ... . .,.** s 

VS* % ' A <r. o^ 

A . *■ * *o^ o° N 
- ^ C • 

o V . - V* 0 N 

\ J ^7“ v v V-VJ*-1^' ^-\ v ? ^ 4 O 

o ~^U"~' ! n 0 % '> ll S^.' ^.K 

°^. *•<’* f° ^ ‘•-‘> 7 ,# . -.. 

\ ,y , s M'» > 

* '?> A *- 

° -^rs A * 

°, ^ V 

® ©^/ ? ** cf* '*'r> * 

^ ^ V ^ L- ^ | 





C v O 


































LETTER OF MR. CUTHBERT POWELL, 


TO 

* 

The people of the Fourteenth Congressional district of Virginia. 


tH'j 

Fellow-citizens : 

Returning, as I am abo«’t to do, to my family and to my constituents, 
af an aosenco of nearly nine months devoted anxiously to congres¬ 
sional labors, and in the expectation of being again brought back to the 
same service, after an interval of a few weeks, you will readily recognise 
the claims of domestic duties upon much of that short time so left at my 
disposal. Thus limited, as I shall be, in my opportunities of personal 
intercourse, I feel the stronger inclination and obligation to say some¬ 
thing to you, through the medium of the press, upon those public 
concerns in which j^our interests are so deeply involved, and in which, 
by your favor, I have been made to participate, as your Representative. 
From the near view which my position has enabled me to take of those 
matters, and from the confidence .which I know you will feel in the can¬ 
dor of the representations w hich I shall make, and of the opinions which 
I shall express, I trust I may contribute to establish, in the minds of some 
of you, more correct views and firmer convictions of the true character of 
the political action of those w ho have been engaged in the recent scenes 
in Washington, than you may have been able to derive from the conflict¬ 
ing testimony of the partisan presses of the day. In this I shall exercise 
as much brevity as is consistent wuth my purpose. 

The 27th Congress was convened, as you recollect, in extra session, 
m the 31st of May, 1841, under the proclamation of our lamented Presi- 
lent Harrison, then no more. It w r as an epoch full of interest, w hen w r e 
ssembled under his successor, flushed with the hope and expectation of 
eing able to afford some prompt relief to the sufferings of the nation, 
f o re-establish the currency, to revive credit and confidence, and to lay 
*he foundation of a lasting prosperity upon the basis of an honest and w r ise 
legislation, to be enforced by a vigilant and faithful Executive. Little 
did we then foresee the destiny that awaited us. You all remember the 
boundless exultation with which the inauguration of General Harrison 
. as greeted by the triumphant Whig people, and the solemn grief with 
which the same people were bow r ed down to the earth in one short month 
thereafter, upon the announcement of his death. Great as was this grief, 
we knew r not, and had no forebodings then, of the extent of mischief 
which was involved in the substitution of Mr. Tyler for General Harri¬ 
son, in the executive chair. 



2 


I shall not dwell at length upon the developments by which we were gradu¬ 
ally taught, at the extra session, that, in the second officer of (he Govern¬ 
ment, whom we had identified in principle with the first, we had been griev¬ 
ously deceived. This astounding evidence was fully exhibited in the history 
of the successive vetoes given by the President to the two bank bills which 
passed both Houses of Congress, and to either of which the Whig party had 
a right to expect his signature, but more especially to the last, which w r as 
framed directly to meet his objections to the first, had been submitted to 
his inspection, received his approbation, and even took its name at his 
hands, previous to the action of Congress thereupon. The extraordinary 
inconsistencies and contradictions in the vacillating course of the Presi¬ 
dent upon those memorable bills are fully established by the published evi¬ 
dence of his late cabinet and of others, and well understood in Washington : 
a course by which he must have been aware that he could not fail to 
alienate the confidence of the party which had elevated him, and which it 
is difficult to? believe he could have pursued had he not been looking 
elsewhere for political support. For this vacillation in his policy, and 
abandonment of his friends, his paper (the Madisonian) of the 11th of 
June is driven to this poor apology : “ Take (says the editor) every woid 
which these people say to be true, and what does it amount to more than 
this ? That the President, in his anxiety to compromise the question of a 
bank, yielded, at the moment, what his sober reflection taught him at the 
next to be wrong,” and “that he authorized his cabinet to feel the pulse 
of Congress upon this subject, but that he changed his opinion after a few 
hours' reflection ,” &c. Here, then, we learn that upon this great bank 
question, which had for years agitated the country, upon the settlement 
©f which the Whig doctrine was, that the restoration of our prosperity 
depended, President Tyler’s views werfe changing from hour to hour, and 
day to day, and w r hen it w 7 as arranged by him, w ith his cabinet, in a form 
to meet his approbation, and then submitted to the National Legislature, 
be only meant to “feel the pulse of Congress,” and was at liberty to 
change “ his opinion after a few hours’ reflection.” Such is the man with 
whom the Whigs have had to act— 

“ Matter too light a lasting stamp to bear.” 

I mention these things to you, fellow-citizens, not that they are new 
tfo most of you, but to give them my endorsement, knowing them to be 
ftrue, and to fix in your minds the fact, in our political history, that the 
failure in success on the currency question was not to be attributed to 
flhe Whig Congress, but to President Tyler, and not growing out of his 
constitutional scruples, but founded, as I have been compelled reluctantly 
to believe, upon motives of personal ambition—a conclusion deriving ad¬ 
ditional support from his late veto of the temporary revenue bill, where 
there were no constitutional scruples to control his action, and which 
brought him into the embraces of the Democratic party, for whose support 
be has sacrificed his faith to his Whig friends, and with whom he can 
enjoy at least one common sympathy in their mutual dread and hatred of 
Henry Clay. That the currency question has not been settled, and the 
country been relieved, so tar as relief could be effected by wise practical 
legislation, may be thus traced to its true cause, and the Whig Congress 
$nust stand acquitted of all participation therein. 

But notwithstanding this failure in the most important of the content- 


3 


plated measures of relief, the extra session still resulted in much valuable, 
and indeed indispensable, legislation. Its call had been denounced by 
the Democrats and the malcontents of the Whig party (for such already 
there were) as unnecessary and unwise, and as a measure that could be 
productive of no good, and the history ot the session shows the extraor¬ 
dinary elforts that were made, that the result might correspond with the 
prediction. Let us look to the condition of the Treasury, and see whether 
that of itself did not make the call indispensable. 

The report of the Secretary, made on the 3d of June, 1841, the begin¬ 
ning of the session shows, that on entering upon the duties of the Depart¬ 
ment, he found in the Treasury the sum of $572,718 46 only. His es¬ 
timate of ways and means for 1841, exhibits a deficiency 
unprovided for - - - - - - $6,000,941 14 

Which, with Treasury notes out, and those authorized to 

be issued, to the amount of - - - 6,087,274 04 

Would make a debt to be provided for of 12,088,215 18 

He further gives an estimate showing what would be required from 
the 1st of June to the 31st of August, 1841, making a deficit of means, to 
meet the expenditure up to that day, of S5,251,388 30. How was this 
deficiency to have been met by the 1st of August if Congress had not 
been convened before the regular time of meeting in December ? The 
Treasury must have been without a cent before midsummer; and yet we 
are told there was no necessity for an extra session. 

By the operation of the compromise law of 1833, the duties upon im¬ 
ports had been gradually descending, and were shortly destined, on the 
30th of June, 1842, to come to the low rate of twenty per cent., which, 
it was quite apparent, would be entirely insufficient for the wants of the 
Government, whilst it must leave the manufactures of the country to 
inevitable destruction.. 

From the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the 3d June, 1841, 
it appears that there remained in the Treasury of the United States, on 
the 1st of January, 1S37, including the fourth instalment due the States, 
(and never paid,) a surplus of - $17,109,473 26 

There were also outstanding debts due, and falling due, 
to the Treasury from other sources than those of &e 
ordinary revenue, and which were paid between the 
1st ot January, 1837, and the 4th of March, 1841, to 
the amount of - 9,124,747 00 

There were also issued within that period, and outstand¬ 
ing on the 4th of March, 1841, Treasury notes to the 
aitnount of - - - - - 5,648,512 40 


31,882,732 66 

From which deduct the amount (less the trust fund) re¬ 
maining in the Treasury on the 4th of March, 1841, 572,718 46 

Which shows an excess of expenditure over the current 

revenue of - - - - - 31,310,014 20 


“ Thus, and to this extent,” says the Secretary, “ within the last four 









4 


years (Van Buren’s) were the expenditures pushed beyond the amount 
of the revenue. They were made to absorb the surplus in the Treasury, 
and the outstanding debts due to the United States, and so the Treasury 
was, on the 4th of March, 1841, exhausted of its means, and subject to 
heavy and immediate liabilities. It was already burdened with a debt 
incurred in time of peace, and without any adequate resources, except 
the authority granted by law to augment that debt” by the further issue 
of Treasury notes. 

This ruinous depletion of the Treasury was, under their wasteful 
expenditures, about to seal the bankruptcy of the Van Buren party when 
the Government passed from them into the hands of the Whigs, upon 
whom the duty was imposed to provide forthwith the means to arrest this 
downward tendency in our affairs, and to preserve the national credit. 

Under these inauspicious circumstances, the Whig Congress commenc¬ 
ed its labors, encountering at every step the most determined opposition 
of those who had brought things to this condition, and whose only aids 
afforded were the sage homilies of Mr. Woodbury, their late Secretary of 
the Treasury, upon the relief to be derived from a ‘‘vigorous system of 
retrenchment.” 

To meet these financial embarrassments, and to place the debt due 
upon Treasury notes in a more advantageous and manageable form, an 
act was passed authorizing a loan of twelve millions of dollars. This was 
followed up by an act imposing additional duties upon articles of foreign 
luxury, as silks and wines, on which the duties had been very light, and 
also a duty of twenty per cent, on many articles then free. 

The Post Office Department, too, was found struggling with debt, from 
the maladministration of its affairs, whilst contractors and stage proprietors 
were subject to gross injustice and loss, from the want of punctuality in 
the payments to which they were entitled. To remedy this evil an act 
was passed, making an appropriation of $497,657, “ to enable the Post 
Office Department to meet its engagements and pay its debts.” 

Needful appropriations, to a considerable amount, were also made to 
repair and augment the naval and military defences of the country, which 
were found in a shameful state of neglect and dilapidation at a time when 
we were in imminent danger of a war with the most powerful maritime 
nation of the world. The forts were to be repaired, guns were to be mount¬ 
ed, and ordnance stores were to be provided, and so deficient were the 
necessary supplies of these for the navy that an appropriation was made by 
law of $C00,000, which was deemed essential for that service. 

The home squadron was established for the defence of our coast, and 
two steam liigates have been built and equipped, and are now in service-, 
as a part ol that squadron. For the expense of those measures, adopted 
by the Whig Congress for the honor and safety of the country, I am # full 
sure that it will not be the people of Virginia that will ever utter a com¬ 
plaint, if the money is honestly and judiciously expended. 

The odious sub-treasury law was, agreeably to the popular will, stricken 
from the statute book, by a prompt repeal, to make way, as was intended, 
for the expected bank agency, in coming time yet to be supplied. 

The act to appropriate the proceeds of the public lands, was the work 
too, ol this extra session—a measure which, of itself, is worth all the toil 
and expense of that session, if it can be preserved from the ruin with 
which it is threatened. It has the merit of dispensing to the old States 


5 


a fair distributive share of those lands, which, if not now secured, may 
be lost to them forever. It takes them out of the political market, where 
they are constantly subject, in the conflict of parties, to be frittered away 
in partial grants as bribes indirectly given for presidential votes and party 
support, and puts to rest the greedy claims of the new States, within 
which the lands lie, to an exclusive right to the soil within their limits— 
an extravagance of pretension which has been openly supported in the 
Senate by Western men, who have boldly said, u in a little while we 
shall have votes enough to settle this matter as we please.” But if we 
shall be allowed to carry the law into operation, and to sustain it, it will 
■afford, by its present dividends, and still more by its promises for the 
future, an aid the most important to the staggering credit of the States: 
a matter in which the peace, and honor, and interest of the whole Union 
are involved. These, with many other considerations connected with 
the subject, but on which 1 have not room to enlarge, have given an im¬ 
portance to the measure in the minds of politicians of honest and patriotic 
■views, which, if it shall fall a sacrifice to party policy, will make its loss to 
be felt and lamented by them as a national evil not to be repaired. 

Nothing, surely, can exhibit more strongly the despotism with which party 
overrides every interest of the community than the course now pursued 
by the dominant party in Virginia upon this subject. Virginia, chivalric 
Virginia, ground down by debt, and laying on her taxes upon a suffering 
people with a heavy hand, yet, upon the sound of the party bugle, buckles 
on her armor, ready to tilt for an abstraction, and die in the last ditch, 
under the orders of the gallant old chevalier of the Enquirer, rather than 
pollute her empty vaults with filthy gold which shall have passed through 
the National Treasury, however honestly it may be due to her. But 
“what was the sentiment of Virginia and Mr. Tyler upon this subject in 
1839 ? Look to the proceedings of her Legislature, and it will appear 
that resolutions in favor of distributing the proceeds of the public lands 
amongst the States, in just proportions, obtained the votes of more than 
two to one of that body. And who was the chairman of the committee 
that presented the resolutions to the House of Delegates of Virginia, and 
who their most zealous advocate upon the floor? Who, but our present 
President, Mr. Tyler himself, who now looks with such aversion at the 
very measure for which he was then so earnest, as to be willing to risk 
the revenues of the country, the very life and action of the Government, 
rather than tolerate for a month the question of its suspension. He who 
is now so tender of the compromise bill, what did he then say: u The 
public lands,” said Mr. Tyler, “ are not mentioned in the compromise 
bill, nor could they have been thought of by Congress; the proceeds of 
the sales had been disposed of by what only wanted the signature of the 
President to become a law”—referring to the fate of the distribution 
law in 1833, which General Jackson killed by what was then called the 
pocket veto, and which could have been prevented from becoming a law 
only by that process. 

The bankrupt law was also a measure of the extra session, one upon 
the policy of which much difference of opinion has always prevailed, and 
which is now in the way of fair experiment, if it can be permitted to 
earry out the test, and receive such amendments as experience may dic¬ 
tate. It is based upon a policy common to most commercial nations, and 
adhered to, after long experience, as beneficial in its action. Whilst it is 


6 


believed to be politic, as it relates to the interest of the creditors, so is 
it beneficent in its character ; relieving, as it does, from bondage, the unfortu¬ 
nate debtor, borne down by heavy burdens and the consciousness of his ina¬ 
bility to rise and move under the weight which oppresses him. In commer¬ 
cial communities such cases are more frequent and striking from the sudden 
reverses in trade; and to such a community it is most important. It is 
strongly recommended, too, by its favorable tendency to the preservation 
of the moral character of debtors, as being, under its operation, less 
tempted to the fraudulent secretion of what little property they may hold, 
since they thereby forfeit their claim to the benefit of the law ; whereas, 
by an honest surrender and a discharge, the}' may, with a good name, 
still hope again to advance themselves in life. So, too, under this influ¬ 
ence, the creditor more frequently secures a fair delivery of the assets 
of the debtor, whilst he has the further chance that, if fortune smiles upon 
the, emancipated bankrupt, he may find him willing to discharge a debt, 
which an honest man will always feel himself bound in conscience to do 
when able, however freed from the coercions of the law. That there 
will be some cases, perhaps many, of fraudulent bankruptcy is very prob¬ 
able, as there are, and always have been, under the State insolvent laws, 
but I trust they may be diminished rather than increased, whilst we have 
reason to believe that, in a multitude of cases, it is working much good, 
and is looked upon as a great Whig measure of policy and beneficence. 

To these prominent acts of the extra session, we may add the appro¬ 
priations made for repairing the Washington bridge, a work in the course 
of substantial execution, and the revival of the charters of the District 
banks; both of them measures in which our community feels a deep in¬ 
terest. 

Who, then, shall say that this was an unprofitable session? True, 
every effort was made to make it such and to render it unpopular by an early 
coalition movement, of which Mr. Charles J. Ingersoll testifies in 
his letter to his constituents. “ Mr. Tyler's personal friends (says Mr. I.) 
sat there with their votes and speeches in harmony with ours , sufficiently 
signalizing what ought to be done , and might be expected .” Thus all, 
the arts of the combined opposition were brought into action to fulfil their 
predictions, that it was to end in a failure. Such, however, was not the 
case, with the exception of the bank question, and it yet remains to be 
seen how far the opposition, with the co-operation of the President, may 
be enabled to undo what has been so laboriously and honestly effected 
with a view to the public interest, and to frustrate what the Whigs stilt 
wish to do if they can be permitted to exercise the rights of a majority. 

But let us pass to the doings of the present session. It was commenced 
under the most gloomy auspices, and that gloom has unhappily thickened 
as it has advanced. Upon the great question of bank and currency, the 
President had taken such grounds as seemed to leave no room for com¬ 
promise, and no hopes of action. A Treasury bank, such as he recom¬ 
mends, under the direction of party politicians, would be an engine of 
corruption too formidable to be risked for any temporary benefits which it 
might promise in the outset. No United States Bank can be safely toler¬ 
ated, except the controlling power shall be left, under proper and rigid re¬ 
strictions, in the hands of such directors as the stockholders may^select 
wdth a sole view to the profitable administration of their affairs. 

Such bank will always be, as it heretofore has been, the best regula- 


7 


tor of the currency, the safest and cheapest depository of the public 
money, and the best agent for its transmission and disbursement. That 
subject must, however, be permitted to rest until, at some future day, 
the public mind, chastened by sufferings, shall rise above the delusions of 
party, and demand, in tones not to be lesisted, the re-establishment of 
institutions under which we had so long prospered. 

The appropriation bills have been carried through, opening a wide 
range of debate upon the general politics of the country, and carrying 
with them important retrenchments and checks, in the contingent ex¬ 
penses of Congress and the Executive Departments. 

Committees of retrenchment have been diligently laboring in the ex¬ 
amination of the books and accounts of the Treasury, and by the able 
reports put forth show enormous abuses and waste of the public mon¬ 
ey, and corruption of the public morals. The extent of these abuses 
in the custom-houses of the great cities, especially in that of New 
York, where two-thirds of the public revenues are collected, and which 
have lately been laid open by the report of Mr. Poindexter, one of 
the commissioners appointed for their investigation, is so enormous as to 
make us shudder for the preservation of our free institutions, if there is 
any truth in the maxim that “ virtue is the basis upon which republican 
government must rest.” It is, I presume, in this prying action of the 
Whigs into official abuses that President Tyler has found the propriety 
of the courteous term which he applies to them of u mousing politicians.” 

The exhausted condition of the public Treasury, under the continued 
reduction of duties, effected by what is commonly called the compro¬ 
mise act, and the consequent want of credit to which the Government 
was subjected, have imposed upon the present Congress a constant strug¬ 
gle to provide the means to meet the public expenditure. The early adop¬ 
tion of a sound and efficient tariff w ould have been the proper remedy for 
all these difficulties, but various causes created a delay in that measure, 
and it was not until the 9th of May that the Secretary of the Treasury 
was enabled, by his bill and report, to afford to the Committee of Ways 
and Means the information required for their action. In the meantime, 
by the issue of Treasury notes, and by the modification of the loan bill, 
and the extension of the amount, the machinery of the Government was 
kept in motion. 

The Whig party here found themselves occupying an extraordinary po¬ 
sition ; struggling against all difficulties to find supplies for the adminis¬ 
tration, whilst that administration and its peculiar friends, and the great 
Democratic party, have been resisting them at every step. Under all 
w 7 hich opposition, however, they passed those needful bills, urged on them 
alike by their own knowledge of the necessities of the Government, 
and by ihe pressing appeals of the President himself in special message, and 
which were yet resisted from day to day by the opposition party, and de-* 
layed and obstructed by the captious objections of the peculiar friends of 
Mr. Tyler, striving to attach to the loan bill a repeal of the land distribution, 
and resisting to the last, the authority which the bill gave to the Secre¬ 
tary of the Treasury to sell the stock at his discretion for the best price 
which it would bring in the market, contending that it should not in any 
event be sold for a cent under par, whatever might be the value of money 
or of stocks. This provision the Whigs firmly rejected, and which, if 
adopted, must long since have left the Treasury without a dollar, as the 


8 


money which the Secretary his procured upon loan has been at a discount 
of about 2 per cent., without which discount it is well known nothing 
could have been had, there being a suspension in the demand for stock 
now, even at that price. And as a further exhibition of their financial 
skill, we find those same peculiar friends of the President urging the in¬ 
sertion of a clause in the land bill, directing the Secretary to buy in the 
stock whenever it should be below par. Truly a notable project, which 
might well be characterized as 

“ Most fit for practice, but for one poor fau*t 
That into practice it can ne’er be brought.” 

I should like to know where the Secretary would now get the money to 
make the purchase, f presume by borrowing with one hand and buying 
the stock with the other. 

Amongst the great measures of the session, tl An act regulating the ap¬ 
portionment of Representatives among the several States under the sixth 
census,” occupied considerable time, although much less than the same sub¬ 
ject had claimed on former occasions, and finally passed with amendments 
from the Senate in a form acceptable to my judgment. It is true that it 
reduces considerably the number of Representatives in the old States 
which are stationary in their population, or slow in their progress, and 
cuts down the representation of Virginia from twenty-one to fifteen, but 
this is the inevitable result of the great growth of our vast republic, and 
must be submitted to. Without such reduction, the House of Represent¬ 
atives, already too large, must have become an unmanageable mob. By 
the ratio adopted, of one Representative for every 70,680 of federal 
members, and of one additional for each State having a fraction of more 
than one-half of that number, the House will be reduced from 242 to 223 
members. This ratio, too, was more acceptable to Virginia, as under it 
she has only the very small fraction of two left by that divisor not repre¬ 
sented. For an interesting historical table connected with this subject l 
refer you to an appendix. 

It is matter of congratulation that the passage of this bill has been 
successfully seized upon as a fit occasion for the establishment of a prin¬ 
ciple in our elections which I consider of inestimable value. The Con¬ 
stitution of the United States says: “ The times, places, and manner 
of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed 
in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at 
any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places 
of choosing Senators.” From the discordant modes of election into 
which the States are running, some choosing by general ticket, some 
by single, and some by compound districts, there is an evident tendency 
to the unjust distribution of power among the several States, in giving to a 
small State, whose representation may be all chosen by general ticket, and 
consequently of one mind, more power than the largest, whose Repre¬ 
sentatives shall be divided in political opinion, as they must generally be 
when chosen by districts. And hence it was deemed essential to justice 
and equal rights that Congress should exercise the power vested in them 
upon this subject. The law, therefore, provides that in all the States the 
Representatives in Congress shall be elected by districts, one for each 
member, and composed of conterminous territory, to be laid off by the 
States themselves. The effect of this will be to make the elections uni¬ 
form throughout the United States, and to give to each State and each 


9 


district its true and proper representation of opinion, and to enable the 
people to know for whom they vote as their Representatives, instead of re¬ 
ceiving, as they must certainly do under the general ticket/the dictates of 
party leaders assembled in caucus, and sending out to them their edicts 
from the seat of Government. It is, moreover, peculiarly a conservative 
measure, as it effects the safety of Southern interests connected vvhh sla¬ 
very, as 1 think is manifest from the following considerations : 

V\ ithout the intervention of this law the obvious tendency of the States 
was to run into the general ticket, and the Representatives of each State 
being thus all of one party would favor the combination of sectional ma¬ 
jorities, with despotic powers to bear down and oppress the minority—a 
state of things peculiarly disadvantageous and dangerous to the South. 
As thus: Whilst the Southern portion of the Union has nothing to fear 
from the district system, under which, as under any other, the great South¬ 
ern question will unite her Representatives to a man, the North, under 
that system, cannot bring about the same compact union of local strength. 
It is not with them a vital question involving every thing dear to the heart 
of man, and with them party divisions will prevail upon this as upon other 
subjects. So long, then, as the representation is by districts will there be 
found in the division of political parties, a portion of the Northern Rep¬ 
resentatives, who, to support the views ol some Northern man with 
Southern principles , will, under party arrangement, throw their weight 
into the Southern scale. How important, then, to the South is the district 
system as a great conservative barrier against the force of the Northern 
phalanx. 

It is strongly recommended, too, by the consideration that it cuts off the 
temptation to that endless change in the form and manner of election in 
which conflicting parties will more and more indulge, and so far limits the 
scope of that political intrigue and cabal which are working so fearfully 
in our country the prostration of all morals, and all stability in our in¬ 
stitutions. The principle of election by districts is, moreover, in accord¬ 
ance with the Virginia practice, and is dear to her people, and, being thus 
adopted by the General Government, the other States are forced into the 
•same fair and honest course. 

To this law, which encountered the usual violent opposition in the 
House, our scrupulous President gave his reluctant signature, at the 
same time adopting the objectionable measure of filing in the State De¬ 
partment an exposition of the difficulties, both as to constitutionality and 
policy under which he labored in giving his assent, and which were 
overcome, as he gives us to understand, by his “ respect for the declared 
will of the two Houses of Congress which avowal, coming in at the 
heel of his veto of the temporary revenue bill, and connected with his 
aecent newspaper letters, was received, when read in the House, with 
a burst of scornful laughter, and the general exclamation “he is mak¬ 
ing fun of us.” The effect of this mischievous paper must be to en¬ 
courage the Democratic party in carrying into practice the threats which 
they make of nullifying the law thus constitutionally enacted, and elect¬ 
ing their Representatives as they please, regardless of its obligations. 
This extraordinary course he adopts, as he says, because it seemed to 
him to be “due to the respectability of opinion against the constitutionali¬ 
ty of the bill,” thus apologizing to the opposition for giving his signature 
to the law against their views, being desirous, as he says, that his 


10 


opinions may not be u quoted hereafter erroneously as a precedent/ 
Let him not fear that posterity will fall into error by quoting his opinions 
as a precedent. Let him ease his conscience, posterity will make a bet¬ 
ter use of his history. 

The tariff, the great question of the session, has undergone an able and 
elaborate discussion, occupying more time perhaps than was needful to 
the examination of the subject, even when cut down as were the speeches 
by the strict application of the one-hour measure, that most salutary Whig 
reform, without which it would have been impossible to have carried out the 
necessary legislation. The first action upon this subject was on the passage 
of the temporary revenue bill. It became obvious, in the latter part of 
June, that the general tariff bill could not be matured in time to meet the 
exigencies of the occasion, and that it would bring ruin upon the revenue* 
as well as upon the manufactures of the country, to permit things to re¬ 
main as they would be under the reduction of duties which was to take 
effect on the 30th of that month. A bill was accordingly brought intothe 
House and acted upon, and, having undergone amendment in the Senate* 
finally passed both Houses, suspending for a month, that is, from 30th 
June to 1st of August, the change which was about to take place, and con¬ 
tinuing the duties as they existed on the 1st of June, 1842, suspending at 
the same time the distribution of the land fund. As this bill had first gone 
from the House to the Senate, it left the land money, which should be 
found in the Treasury on 1st July, to be distributed amongst the States* 
but to avoid all difficulty with the President, the threat of whose veto was 
now sounded in our ears, the Senate struck out this provision, so that all 
things might remain precisely as they were till the 1st of August, giving 
thereby one month additional time for more mature legislation upon the 
whole subject. But even this could not pass with our veto-loving Presi¬ 
dent ; he had set his heart upon a veto and would have it. By which wan¬ 
ton act, indefensible upon any principle of reason or of common sense* 
he has involved the custom-houses in wide-spread legal litigations with 
the merchants, as to the doubtful fact whether any revenue at all is at pres¬ 
ent collectable ; he has lessened the receipts of the Treasury, let that ques¬ 
tion be decided as it may, and has given a blow to the manufactures of 
the country which is forcing them to dismiss from service thousands of 
their hands, whilst our country is inundated with foreign goods to sweep 
off from us what specie we have, and thus keep down the circulation and 
business of our banks, even if it does not drive them again into sus¬ 
pension. 

Again baffled and defeated, the Whigs, however, indignant at the 
humiliation to which they were subjected, proceeded with redoubled ef¬ 
forts to mature the general tariff bill, which finally passed both Houses of 
Congress by small majorities, an object effected with great difficulty amidst 
the conflicts of party and of local interests, and which they hoped might 
have been permitted to meet the anxious expectations of a suffering com¬ 
munity. But not so. u Veto and ditto,” the toast drank with so much 
glee and hilarity at the democratic festival given at the palace on the 4th 
of July was here explained and carried out. So history tells us, “ Nero 
fiddled whilst Rome burned/’ 

What, (hen, remains to us in this emergency ? Can any thing be done 
to stay the progress of that wide-spead ruin which is no longer prospec¬ 
tive, but which has commenced its march over the land, carrying in its 


11 


train public and private bankruptcy, the prostration of morals, and the 
suspension of laws ? If any thing, what is it that we can do, within the 
narrow limits which a republican President prescribes to an American 
Congress, as to the form and manner in which they shall be permitted to 
raise their taxes to carry on their Government, and under the checks which 
he arbitrarily imposes upon the policy of their legislation ? 

These are the grave questions which agitate the minds of the Whig 
members of Congress at this time in their solemn deliberations by day 
and by night, and to which they give, with devoted patriotism, their time, 
their talents, and their labors. 

I trust that those labors may not be fruitless, but that something may 
yet be done in mitigation of the evils that surround us. But if, unhappily, 
the session, now drawing to a close, must terminate in disappointed hopes, 
we can only look to the people themselves to speak in the voice of thun¬ 
der to the authors of those evils, and dispel their delusions and ambitious 
aspirations, which, however vain and futile, have yet been made, in the 
machinations of party, the great cause of our present sufferings. 

I have thus attempted to show you, fellow-citizens, what has been done 
by the Whig Congress down to the present time, and how and by whom 
their efforts to do more have been defeated. As to Mr. Tyler and the 
small but active squad, usually known as the corporal’s guard, they must, 
in the course of events, be swallowed up in the great conflict which is 
approaching; their feeble and fitful struggles as a party must soon be over. 
But a mighty rush is to be made by the great Locofoco host to repossess 
themselves of the sceptre. Will they succeed? It is a question full of 
import to the cause of constitutional liberty. Expelled from power by the 
great popular movement of 1840, do these men believe you so blind, 
as not to see their mischievous movements, or so forgetful as not to re¬ 
member the evidence upon which you found them guilty, or have they 
become, since then, more capable and more honest; have they been the 
subjects of a supernatural conversion, have they been born again, that 
they claim to be restored so quickly to your confidence. In such event, 
what is to be expected at their hands? what but the most licentious 
indulgence in the repetition of those abuses which they shall thus 
find the people may be made to tolerate under the influence of party 
spirit kept up by the artful delusions of interested demagogues ? what 
but the practical carrying out of those disorganizing, anti-social doctrines, 
which they advocate as democratic, but which threaten the prostration of 
all the blessings of civil government. Do we not see them in some quar¬ 
ters urging on the people madly to the violation of all faith, by the repu¬ 
diation of State debts justly due. Even in the Senate of the United 
States, we are shocked to find them crying out for the repeal of chartered 
rights, and defending the treasonable movements of the factious mobs of 
Rhode Island assembled in armed force to breakdown the lawful Govern¬ 
ment. Are the reins to be trusted safely in the hands of those, who in 
their lust of power, throw themselves upon the licentious passions of 
the w'orst portion of society ? I appeal to the great body of those who 
call themselves Democrats to say if they are ready to follow the lead of 
those unprincipled demagogues who so wantonly sport with our interests 
and safety. Will the intelligent, moral, property-holding, and law-loving 
portion of that party, of which there are many, give their sanction to such 
men and to such principles? If they do, well may it be said, that “party 


12 


spirit is the madness of the many for the benefit of the few.” I hope not. 
If they do, the days of our republic are numbered. 

There remains, fellow-citizens, one other topic, personal to myself, upon 
which I ask briefly to speak. The short session of next winter will close 
the congressional term of service to which, by your favor, 1 have been 
elected, and it will become your duty, in April, under a new arrangement 
ef the congressional districts, and with a considerable enlargement thereof, 
to decide by your suffrages to whom the honorable station which I now 
bold shall then be awarded. Until it shall be known of what counties the 
district shall be composed, no selection of candidates can of course be 
made, but I nevertheless deem the present a fit time and occasion, re¬ 
spectfully, to announce to you, that 1 shall not then appear before you as 
a candidate for the honor of a re-election. 

In coming to this decision, I have not been influenced by the appre¬ 
hension of the failure of that confidence which I so lately experienced at 
your hands, for my friends assure me of the contrary, and I have willingly 
believed them ; but I have arrived at that age, when I think it most be¬ 
coming, as it will be most agreeable to myself, to give up the remainder 
of my days to the tranquility of private life. 

Whilst I shall thus, however, withdraw, and leave to younger men the 
active struggles of the political arena, I cannot cease whilst 1 live, warmly 
to sympathize with you in every thing which shall involve the honor and 
the interests of our common country, nor to cherish a grateful remembrance 
of the kindness which I have ever experienced at your hands ; happy if 
at the end of my service, I shall be able to retire with that confidence 
undiminished, which called me to it, and in the assurance that my humble 
but faithful labors shall have received your approbation. 

Your friend and fellow-citizen, 

CUTHBERT POWELL. 

Washington, August 13, 1842. 


Table showing the representation of the several States at different pe 
riods since the organization of the Government . 


States. 

O) 

4787 

(») 

1790 

(<0 

1800 

(d) 

1810 

(0 

1820 

(/) 

1830 

(g) 

1840 


Maine 

. 

- 


_ 


- 7 

8 

7 

Formed part of Mass, previous to 1820, 

New Hampshire 

- 

3 

4 

5 

6 

6 

5 

4 


Massachusetts 

- 

8 

14 

17 

20 

13 

12 

10 


Rhode Island 

- 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 


Connecticut 

_ 

5 

7 

7 

7 

6 

6 

4 


Vermont - 

- 

1 _ 

• 

2 

4 

6 

5 

5 

4 


New York 

- 

6 

10 

17 

27 

34 

40 

34 


New Jersey 

. 

! 4 

5 

0 

6 

6 

6 

5 


Pennsylvania 

- 

j 8 

13 

i 18 

23 

26 

28 

24 


Delaware 

_ 

l 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 


Maryland 

- 

! 6 

8 

9 

9 

9 

8 

6 


Virginia - 

- 

: 10 

19 

22 

28 

22 

21 

15 


North Carolina 

- 

5 

10 

12 

13 

13 

13 

9 


South Carolina 

_ 

5 

6 ; 

8 

9 

9 

9 

7 


Georgia - 

- 

3 

2 

4 

6 

7 

9 

8 


Kentucky 

■ 

- 

2 

6 

10 

12 

13 

10 


Tennessee 

■ 

- 

- 

3 

6 

9 

13 

11 

Admitted 1796 with one Rep. 

Ohio 

_ 


_ 

- 

6 

14 

19 

21 

Admitted 1802 with one Rep. 

Louisiana 


_ 

_ 

- 

_ 

3 

3 

4 

Admitted 1812 with one Rep. 

Indiana - 

_ 

_ 

- 



3 

7 

10 

Admitted 1816 with one Rep. 

Mississippi 


_ 

— 


_ 

1 

2 

4 

Admitted 1817 with one Rep. 

Illinois 

■ 

j. 

- 

- ; 


1 

3 

7 

Admitted 1818 with one Rep. 

Alabama • 

- I 

_ 

_ 

- 


3 

5 

7 

Admitted 1819 with one Rep. 

Missouri - 


_ 

_ 

- 

j 

_ 

2 

5 

Admitted 1821 with one Rep. 

Michigan 


_ 

_ 



- 

- 

3 

Admitted 1837 with one Rep. 

Arkansas 

- 

- 



- j 

- 

- 

1 

Admitted 1836 with one Rep. 




105 | 

141 

186 

212 

240 

223 



(a) As per Constitution. 

(b) As per act of 1792, one Representative for 33,000, first census. 

(c) As per act of 1802, one Representative for 33,000, second census. 

(d) As per act of 1811, one Representative for 35,000, third census. 

(e) As per act of 1822, one Representative for 40,000, fourth census. 

(/) As per act of 1822, one Representative for 47,700, fifth census. 

(g) As per act of 1842, one Representative for 70,680, sixth census, with an additional Rep>* 
resentative to each State 1 aving a fraction of more than one-half the ratio. 











































■ 































. 

. 












■ 


















RB 9.3, 






















. 











































* 









*• 









































% 
















* 














































* 













































































« 

























4 






% 



































































% 








J 














































































































































s & 

0 A" ^ A 

A ^ A v ^ 





° ^ AV ♦ 

*. ^ : 

‘ <£ “„ 

' _ ^y' &• * 



.*&- 
o V 

* j. 0 -^ \~<smw> .4 

’ j,° <<? 

vr ,'•»- v >’V/* 

«. cV *tK\W* tc. a 5 - » 

^ *»4” W ; 


• * 





«• 

» «£» 4 

* ^ 0 


0 V t * 1 ' 8 * ’O 
0 * ' 


• 4 o' 

> <x? ^ * 

* A y O’ 



< A 6 O - a * 

j'O’ • _c^\ ^ *P 

< N k 

'>a ^ ° 








0*0 


t ♦ o 


A°' v, *•-’•’ y ° i, - 

% jy ,-rj'. *> v' .^>4*. «v 

A * rfC\ AA 0s^ * 

a'V *^MM2u Vv ^ s 

rv o47/^\\V- °WWW* A^ 

*°. * * A *'7^ • * G* • * * A <* ' .. * 

° A *V5$$W. V . 0° *W0^\ ° 4 A * ^ ' 




VX A o 

o V 




0 a 0 V a *-V.* A 

* T. V°- V . vtAL'-* <^ * 





^ A ♦ 

\P <? • 


' H o. 

^ 'v ^V S ## A 

• v y. i 

o <^/ » 


■** A" 

t> ,0^ t* L J/ ^ o. 

„ V. C S~>srT^ - o 

«* ^ *“ 

• ^0 • 


' A V "a 
;* ♦* ^ 

" A 

A 0°"°-* ^ 

o ^ y r^>^ 


¥> : / *. 



4 ^ ^ 

* ^o o °" ° ♦ y <^ 

yy o ^ 

^ * iP 'Ki, 

0° ^ 





o « k 1 



^ A 

• • • 

” ^ V " 

^ A b ^ °- 

' <0^ 

c o^ t • ^ ^O o 

^ 0^ / 


A 

»* A ^ ••* 

A" *> ’"’■ ^ .. -*• **■“ 



\p vV 

x V ^ 

0 O -7 -Ir o , 

v \r s s 















\p A* 

* ' 

I | V V 

- o • » * 

■*.. % 

T- •°'V9M‘ 

** 7 * \ ‘^V V®' / '~ *\ r ^'\/\ 

sy +'* °* *v * s VL'-v -<y *»• - ^ 

<& ** A * +* ^ ** 

1? , ^S\Mx///l O V" - ^v 


/V’ 

^ *-WM: '°WW' ; VA Vi 

* <V <, ,C-' f V '••.„•* A, <? A 

^ o«v* ^ o^ .*'•* **o A v * 0 " °* ^ 

iN v 'JV , ^ ^ * Vfl <i <^xV\Ah'V* ,r y^ 

o/R N i»^'' *?V ^ . 'X A o /k\ Aj> •* 'f*, 

o > . Av^rg^a. ^ 

$ *: 

or f r> MsM-* « ' j 

o,v o * 0 0 0 0 

> V V ,JV.. \ 9 * v ^ > . " .v 

•#-, .<■ 

•. w 




’ ^ *YS 

°. • J* 


VV’ 

* v> 'V o * a^*^ ° A ^ 

» a$ °, ■ ^ A V^H^T'% 4 A' ^v « 

<+ *-•'•'«* .o v ’'Oj. a <, *'..«* .6 fr V 

W. V c ♦W2feA ° ,A ,'^5w4T» -%. c u o 

IB*’ .‘<5Pss»- ^ ^ *^i^-. -w ;. 



*0« 

V; ^°x. j?v <j5°^ 

.v 5 ' °^ **>-°° A 0 ’ V 

v ^v;V. .o- .•••-. v N V 

^ * ?'v*-^ • #y A ♦ AVA*. ^f- ^ * 


^C 


a0 


.v^ 


* " 



V«* 


W V,^\\ V * «V *>». • * V? ^Oc*. O'//©^ xv «$* . c^= 

'° • * - <V *' VVT' '<>•*- A *- 

^O o° * ° + ^ r»^ • t 1 • + *o o * o . •<£ 

° VJ'*' .'^XnV., V c u ^ .4* •%. 

o V_* A cr 



«.°° '^‘‘"'"•'V ^ / \,‘^ 7 ‘^ 

0 *' • > v ^ S ‘ < ,-L''»’ cv *0 ► v * °p v % 5 

_ , :jr V v ■.TO r «' A' -^ '-©IIS*" <Z> J ^ 

- ^ -a' i* * £ £*■ ' < v ■*\'Tx'f k <j_v O 

V '••*’ A° V '»•*• A ^* 4 <0^ O 'o, 

r • ^ f 3 + o ^ o ° M a + &. v * 1 1 * + ^q 

^ ^ 


r o „o ^ ‘ 

^ ® « 0 
V * s * * ' ^ cv . ^ . 



' ^ A^ ^ 

*. l£ 









' A»■ 

• .C^ 

^ . rw d ^ qs 



^ • ' 1 a? °^ °- 0 A 0 

^ V CV <0 A 

V V :&b£; \ V 

4 »v 

’.* A' A 


r V-^V 

A ^ V 

r o,1* A v, ^T.«' «G V ’O '« 

o M O ^ «*■'*„ "q 0 

. \ c° .w%,’ ^ A / 

A o x • : o v 






t :JPfV; '’o v v r^lli: ^ 

x 0-7 * A ^ x° A, 

_ • * -zyy/jy£B * A _ rf'^.ll\\vs^ i ' * v, ~*yyjIF,# * k' 

^ y * °' ^ V N *!AL% ca «0 V • ¥ * ° 

.**_ ^ a^ ^ ♦ 

° <£'** °WWv$* A V <^ 

iTT^r^ 4jy & • ^ ^ ^ -cu v 

• ■ «' G v O •'o.x'* ^ <v *' :. s 4 O o, 

“n°o S .no 0^ t • L ' - - ^O Vi> o *! # ^ o^ t • 1 ' * «• *^0 

un. CV • 0 v* O 

O. ^ o n 0 .0 

2004 ^ . * . o_ - 



} A 
* 


FLA. 



'■ A ’’ ' ■a. '• 

» 1 * ,<t\ 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































